The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-03-30
THE CLOVEF HOOP.

That The railway pass evil was 6
source of corruption as we'll as a wrong
and injustice to the public is being dem
onstrated. The withdrawal of annua
passes has aroused the ire of segera
newspaper editors, who are trying tt
convince the railroads that the law die
not contemplate the abolition Of dead
heaoism. Some of these editors are de-
nouncing the railway managers fol
taking advantage of a technicality and
strained construction. While these
editors were carrying in their pockets
annual passes, they would never think
of exposing and denouncing railway
abuses; they would, on the contrary,
cover such abuses, and apologize Tor
wrong doing on the part of the COM
pany. The passes being withdrawn,
the editors suddenly discover that rail-
ways are 'grasping," that they are in
terpreting the law ''in way to further
Cypress the people" and so on.
But if narrow minded editors show
the evil of the pass system by their
spiteful and petty utterances and
snarl, the evil is exposed in all its
enormity when legislators undertake to
retaliate upon the railways for the with
drawal of passes. The other day the
Ohio & Mississippi requested the mem
bers of the Illinois Legislature to re-
turn the :'annuals" issued to them at the
beginning of the year. This was fol-
owed at once by the introduction of q
bill reducing the fare on all railroads in
the State 20 cents mile. The Chi
cago Journal, noting the circumstance,
says:
This fairly opens the fight between the
pass tends and the railroad companies. I'm
doubleday whenever the no pass rule is en-
forced anti-railroad legislation of a similsr
nately for the eraiiway companies most
OF the state legislatures are-near the
close of biennial sessions, and will
not meet again in two years. But Congress
wiz meet in December, and possibly spec
1al session will be held previous to that
time. If the pass system should be abol-
ished SIS regards Congressman, it would not
be surprising TO see an amendment to the
interstate act proposed. reducing all inter
state passenger rates to two cents a mile
Such a law would wipe out one-third of the
gross receipts of the railroads from the pas
senger traffic. -Sandbag legislation of this
4 character must have been anticipated by the
srallTay companies from the start, when
they announced the discontinuance of the
pass system. the advance in the price Ct
mileage tickets and the other steps taken in
conformity to their construction of the
inter state law. Such legislation would be
oS r11Tafo DC h hrih
sno other Tsscally lobby practices. 1t
would be q form of duress and blaekmail of
the most fagi ious description.
The Timss, of Louisville, KY, COM
menting on the above mentioned in
cident, says:
Of course no legislator was ever Influenced
in his public duties by the paltry present of
railroad pass. The o. d MS revocation
the Introduction of a bill in the Illinois
to make passenger fares 2
Gems mile instead of 8, do not bear to each
other the relation of cause and effect, though
one followed as quickly upon the heels of
the oVder as thunder follows lightning. Oh,
no; it was noteause and efect-it was co.
incidence.
These tvs, facts, namely: that a
portion of the press is making war on
the railroads for revoking passes and a
State legislature resents the recall OF the
ANIMALS held by its members by bill
that is unreasonable and unjust, ex.
plain fully the influence which the pass
exercised in this country. a better
argument IN favor of the abolition of
the pass could not be made than has
already been presented in the incidents
noted. II the G Jngressie al set does not
suppress the nuisance and make the
issuance of passes penal otfense. then
the State legislatures should step IN and
cover the defect. The pass has given
the railway companies power and in
fuencs with legislatures and The press,
which have been used against the pub
lie snd in favor of the roads. The pass
is in the nature of q bride, and its use is
therefore in sense corruption.